Self-care competence in the administration of insulin in older people aged 70 or over1.
Mayara Sousa Vianna, Patrícia Aparecida Barbosa Silva, Cíntia Vieira do Nascimento and 1 others
PMID 29091128WHAT IT FOUND
Older adults who self-administered insulin often skipped handwashing, air injection and safe sharp disposal.
Competence went with regular glucose checks and proper skin pinching, and was lower among retired participants.
Key findings
01Most older adults made errors in insulin self-administration, including handwashing (87.2%), injecting air into the vial (74.3%) and disposing of sharps in a hard flask (73.1%).
02Self-care competence was lower among retired participants and higher among those who performed capillary glucose monitoring and skin pinching.
03Mental limitation showed the strongest correlation with self-care competence scores, stronger than motivational or physical limitation.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that retirement, glucose monitoring or skin pinching caused better or worse self-care competence. The assessed group was smaller than planned, 148 people instead of 245, because many older people could not be reached by telephone or refused. Participants came from one health district in Belo Horizonte, so the results may not apply to other settings. The supplied text does not report the overall proportion of participants classified as having satisfactory self-care competence.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the associations as proof that retirement, glucose monitoring or skin pinching caused better self-care competence. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot show cause and effect.